In the afternoon, while Lei Shaoqing was going to the fleet to deal with some fleet affairs (Tan Renhao had already handed over the affairs of the fleet to Lei Shaoqing and had already nominated Lei Shaoqing as the chief of staff of the fleet), Hao Dongjue wanted to go to the aviation unit to do some things, while Chang Jianxin wanted to inquire about the maintenance of the "Xuanzong". Tan Renhao called Luo Yunchong to his office, and now he also has a general's office of his own.

"You mean to force Japan to surrender within a year?" When it comes to business, Luo Yunchong is very serious, and he doesn't have a hippie smile.

Tan Renhao nodded, and then took out a cigarette. "Do you smoke?"

Luo Yunchong nodded, took the cigarette and lit it. "It's not easy. If we land on the Japanese mainland, we will probably have to prepare 1 million to 1.5 million ground troops. Even if supplies are delivered from the Korean Strait, it is necessary to prepare nearly 1,000 transport ships and thousands of transport planes to ensure that sufficient combat materials can be supplied to the landing force. And this is not counting the previous landing ships that transported the landing force. If you count it all, it will take us three years to prepare for this, and maybe three years will not be enough. ”

Tan Renhao smiled bitterly and said, "So we have to choose another way to solve this problem." If the landing fails, then if Japan is forced to surrender, it will only turn the Japanese mainland into a desert island and bomb Japan into ruins. And the naval fleet, even naval aviation is not capable of doing this right now, so, we need your help. ”

Luo Yunchong frowned and said, "You're talking about strategic bombing?" ”

Tan Renhao laughed. Then he picked up a book on the table. "You wrote it, right? When the Italian Duhei put forward the theory of 'air supremacy', I am afraid that few people in the world believed his words. However, I am afraid that few people will doubt his words now. There was a general in the United States of America named Marshall, who also put forward the theory that a large-scale strategic bombing could be enough for a country to lose a war. Right now. The British Empire did just that, and their strategic bombers had been carrying out massive bombing of the German Empire. But. Our minds are clearly a little behind. At present, the farthest distance of the army bomber is only 1,500 kilometers, and it can only carry two tons of bombs. Since the army aviation is not ready to develop strategic bombers, then we will do it. ”

"You mean, Marshal Nie Renfeng approved this?" Luo Yun was surprised, but at the same time happy. Two years ago, he put forward the "strategic bombing theory," which was the first strategic bombing theory put forward by the Tang Emperor. And later. His theories were also published in a book, called Strategic Bombing.

In fact, this is directly related to the strategic thinking of the army. After the first war, the Tang Imperial Army had enough of the bitterness of trench warfare on the Western Front, in fact, all the participating countries were the same at that time, trench warfare was a war of attrition, not to mention the dead, and the dead did not have much effect. Moreover, there is a huge waste of national resources. After the war, the armies of the Don Empire, the Russian Empire, the German Empire, and the Kingdom of France, the countries that suffered the most from trench warfare, were looking for new army tactics, and the focus was on armored assault forces, mainly tanks. The development of the Army of the Tang Empire in the post-war period. There is a slight resemblance to the land forces of the German Empire, that is, the application of armored assault forces is emphasized. However, the armored forces do not exist alone, and in order to bring out the assault force of the armored forces, two other strong support forces are needed. One is artillery, the other is aviation.

At a time when the Imperial Army focused on building armored forces, it had already decided on the main direction of development of the Imperial Army aviation. The power of an armored assault force is speed, and this requires a lot of air support, especially in front of the assault front. Therefore, the development of the Imperial Army Aviation focused on dive bombers with a relatively short range. Light and medium bombers. In the British Empire. When the United States of America set out to develop strategic bombers, the Don Empire was almost blank in this regard. At most, a few experimental models were put out to verify the capabilities of strategic bombers.

Of course, there is another reason why the Tang Imperial Army Aviation chose light and fast tactical bombers, that is, the post-war economic contraction, so that the Tang Empire did not have enough strength to ensure that the army and navy could get the weapons and equipment they needed. At that time, the Tang Empire focused on the navy, not the army, which was the strength needed to maintain the empire's huge overseas interests and overseas territories. As a result, the army has extremely limited resources at its disposal, so it can only give priority to tactical bombers that are cheap, manufactured, and technically difficult, rather than limited in the manufacture of strategic bombers.

Tan Renhao is also very clear about this, and in the face of Luo Yunchong's words, he said: "Marshal Nie Renfeng has not yet made instructions on this point, but the marshal's meaning is very clear, as long as we can force Japan to surrender within a year, we can use any means, of course, if the army has no way to develop strategic bombers, then we will do it." ”

Luo Yunchong nodded. "Okay, it's just that Marshal Yan Dingyu and Wei Boyu are probably going to be unhappy."

Both laughed. Because the army aviation has no way to develop strategic bombers, it is also restricting the development of heavy bombers by the HNA industry, and Yan Dingyu also has a very good reason, that is, the navy does not need heavy bombers when fighting, if the empire has enough resources to develop strategic bombing forces, then it should be done by the army aviation, not by the HNA to do it.

"Then we should do something practical, let Marshal Nie Renfeng support us first, as for the reaction of the army aviation, that is not something we should care about." Tan Renhao stood up, "Now, you are mainly responsible for this matter, the first step is to come up with the main performance parameters of the models that can carry out strategic bombing against Japan, of course, you must first understand what kind of technology we have in our hands now, what kind of fighters we can build, so that we can have the ability to carry out strategic bombing against Japan in a short period of time." When the time comes, what will be the reaction of the army aviation. It's up to us to perform! ”

Luo Yunchong also stood up and said, "No problem, give me ten days, maybe eight days is enough, and when the time comes, I will give you a satisfactory report." ”

Tan Renhao did get a report that made him feel very satisfied. Luo Yunchong not only put forward the specific performance requirements for the new bomber in the report, but also attached a simple design analysis report. And it's a design sheet made with the technology that the empire now has.

According to Luo Yunchongdi's report, if the Imperial Naval Aviation wants to develop strategic bombers. Then in the early stage, it should be considered that the combat radius is about 1500 kilometers, the bomber can carry more than 5 tons of ammunition, and the bomber with four engines is installed. At that time, the empire was already able to manufacture aero engines with a maximum power of about 2100 horsepower, and if according to Luo Yunchong's requirements, this kind of speed only needs to reach about 250 knots of bombers and use four 1600 horsepower engines is enough. The empire has several engines that can meet this requirement, and the technology is very mature and can be produced in large quantities. Therefore. There will not be much difficulty in creating a new bomber.

In addition, Luo Yunchong also submitted an additional report, which was a report on bomber escort operations. At present, the maximum combat radius of the HNA fighter is only about 300 nautical miles, and if the bombers are escorted by this kind of fighter, they can only take off from the Korean Peninsula or the northern islands of the Ryukyu Islands, and they will not be able to bomb all parts of the Japanese mainland, and no one can predict the situation of the war on the Korean Peninsula. And there is no bottom on what the landing operation on the Ryukyu Islands will look like. Therefore, the HNA should develop a combat radius of 800 nautical miles, at least 500 nautical miles, capable of taking off directly from the empire's mainland, and providing full escort from bomber fleets. A long-range fighter capable of bombing every part of the Japanese mainland.

Tan Renhao handed over this report directly to Marshal Nie Renfeng, because he found that there was almost nothing he could revise in the report, Luo Yunchong was not only an expert in bombing, but also he served in the fighter unit in the early days, so he also knew a lot about escort operations. It can be said that Luo Yunchong himself is an all-round talent in aviation, and his understanding of strategic bombing is far superior to that of Tan Renhao. This is also the main reason why Tan Renhao asked Liao Hanxiang for someone.

However, after Nie Renfeng finished reading this report. Obviously not as happy as Tan Renhao.

"The report is very well written. I heard that it is an old subordinate of General Liao Hanxiang, right? ”

Tan Renhao nodded with a smile and said, "Major Luo Yunchong is one of General Liao Hanxiang's proud disciples. In the past few years, I have not been happy in the army airline. Before, he wanted to come to the Navy, but because of personnel transfer problems, he didn't come. This time, he first retired from the army and then came to the navy. ”

Nie Renfeng laughed and said: "Liao Hanxiang's ability to dig corners is really not small, back then he 'jumped ship' to the navy and brought dozens of backbones of the army and aviation to come over, which made Yan Dingyu scold Wei Boyu, and then called Marshal Sajiting, saying that he wanted these people to go back. However, it's different now, no matter where you are, as long as you're fighting for the empire, it's actually the same, I believe Marshal Yan Dingyu won't be so stingy. ”

Tan Renhao laughed embarrassedly, in fact, he wanted a local person, otherwise Liao Hanxiang would not have dug the corner of Lu Hang.

"Well, it's a good plan, and I think it's the only way to go. However, the problem is not so simple. Nie Renfeng patted the armrest of the sofa and said, "The biggest problem is that if we take the initiative to develop heavy bombers, it will break the tacit understanding reached with the army before, which may have a very bad impact on the relationship between the two armies." ”

"Marshal, if the army aviation does not develop, then why can't we?" Tan Renhao frowned.

"The problem is not so simple, young man, think more." Nie Renfeng still treats Tan Renhao as his student, "Now, the focus of the army has fallen to two places, one is the northwest battlefield, and the other is the Korean Peninsula. I heard that Marshal Yan Dingyu had given a death order to drive out the Japanese who had landed on the Korean Peninsula. However, our difficulties are also obvious. Now there are many tasks for the construction of the Navy, and those warships alone consume a lot of resources. Shen Fei's focus and strength is to develop HNA fighters and bombers, and they do not have much experience or ability in heavy bombers. If we want to develop heavy bombers, then we must rely on the strength of West, Chengfei and Hafei. And these three aircraft factories mainly provide fighter planes for the army airline. ”

At this time, Tan Renhao understood what Marshal Nie Renfeng meant, if Lu Airlines wanted to pinch HNA's neck, then they could only rely on Shen Fei to build heavy bombers, and with Shen Fei's R&D capabilities and production capacity, it was difficult to meet HNA's requirements in a short period of time.

"However, I attach great importance to this plan." Nie Renfeng hesitated slightly, "Tomorrow, I will go to the capital to meet Prime Minister Xue Xiyue to discuss the combat operations for the new year. You also pack your bags and come with me when the time comes. Anyway, it won't be a few days. By the way, Lei Shaoqing's promotion order has come down, this time you will give him the title, and now he is your chief of staff. And Hao Dongjue and Chang Jianxin were both promoted to lieutenant colonels. So, you immediately explain your work and set off with me early tomorrow morning. ”

Tan Renhao was stunned for a moment, which surprised him a little, but he immediately agreed. Nie Renfeng took him to meet Prime Minister Xue Xiyue, naturally asking him to convince the prime minister and ask the prime minister to support the development of heavy bombers in the navy.

In the afternoon of the same day, Tan Renhao put on the epaulettes of the naval colonel to Lei Shaoqing, and Hao Dongjue and Chang Jianxin also wore the epaulettes of the lieutenant colonel. Tan Renhao also arranged for Hao Dongjue to be the chief of staff of the fleet's aviation operations, and often recommended Xin as the fleet's chief of staff for navigation. In the past, these personnel appointments were owned by the Navy Command, but in wartime, in order to reduce contradictions and frictions within the fleet, all personnel appointments except the Chief of Staff of the Fleet were in the hands of the Fleet Commander, and only the final report was submitted to the Navy Command for approval.

The three newly promoted young people were naturally very happy, and after Du Xing invited them to an ordinary dinner, it was Lei Shaoqing's turn to treat him, but Hao Dongjue insisted on treating himself because he was also promoted to lieutenant colonel. As a result, after some discussion, several people decided to go to the best hotel in the city and let Lei Shaoqing and Hao Dongjue treat together. Of course, Tan Renhao did not forget to ask Du Xing to call Luo Yunchong.